Most thinking citizens have come to the conclusion that Kenya is facing an extraordinary crisis today. The manifestations of this crisis the all-pervasive, inefficient state, increasing lawlessness, competitive populism, criminilisation of polity, ever-growing nexus between money power, crime and political power, excessive centralization, serious erosion of legitimacy of authority and extremely tardy and inefficient justice system all these are only too evident to all of us.
Causes of Crisis
This crisis is not on account of decline in values in society, nor is it because we have the wrong kind of people in politics, bureaucracy and judiciary. Essentially, the crisis of governability in Kenya is a result of two major flaws in our governance structure. Firstly, good behaviour is not consistently rewarded by the Kenyan state, and bad behaviour is not consistently checked or punished. In fact, the contrary is true, and there is a strong feeling throughout the country that in our governance structure it is bad behaviour that ensures rewards and success. Thanks to a very poor design of our democracy despite noble intentions, honesty is no longer compatible with survival in political office, and politics and honour do not seem to coexist.
The second major flaw in our system is in the nature of power and its exercise. If power is defined as the ability to influence events, resources and human behaviour for the larger public good, then such power is severely restricted in our state functionaries at every level. Though it is difficult to quantify this phenomenon, some effort to do so may enhance our understanding of the problem. On a scale of achievement by state functionaries, if a quantum of 100 is what is possible in a well-functioning governance structure, and what is necessary in a well-run civil society, then the best of the functionaries in the Kenyan state are able to achieve only about 15 to 20 on this scale. Whether these functionaries are the occupants of high public office like the Prime Minister,Cabinet ministers and MPs,PCs, or other elected politicians or appointed public servants or the members of judiciary, this limitation is very evident at every level in every organ of our state. If however power is defined as pelf, privilege, patronage, petty tyranny, harassment, or nuisance value, then almost all our state functionaries enjoy this negative power in abundance. This imbalance between the exercise of positive power and negative power is the most striking feature of the failure of the Kenyan state. As a result of this imbalance, all state functionaries have perfectly plausible, rational and realistic explanations and alibis for non-performance. The hapless citizen, who expects results, is perpetually frustrated.
On account of these characteristics of the Kenyan state, all institutions of state failed grievously, and are on the verge of collapse. This collapse encompasses the political executive, the legislatures, the bureaucracy and the judiciary. None can be blamed in isolation, nor can any segment escape the blame. However, this failure is not because individuals have failed, nor is it because the society lacks values, but it is a result of the fundamental flaws in our governance structure, which make this crisis inevitable.
In the face of the state's failure to optimize results, and its incapacity to check malignant use of power, the citizen is increasingly frustrated. Unlike the elites, who laud the modest accomplishments of state functionaries against heavy odds, the ordinary citizens are deeply discontented as they perceive the vast area of non-performance, and the pervasive insensitivity, corruption and unresponsiveness. As repeated rejection of status quo and voting out the party in power do not yield any positive results, there is increasing frustration, and easy recourse to violence like the one we show in 2007 after election and many more to come.
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